


fluttering

by huphilpuffs



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: 2009, Established Relationship, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-06-03 00:58:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19453105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/huphilpuffs/pseuds/huphilpuffs
Summary: There's a moth in Dan's house, so he Skypes Phil.





	fluttering

**Author's Note:**

> Warning for bugs (and the killing of a bug if that makes you uncomfy).

Dan is never leaving his bedroom while home alone again. 

He just wanted food, just a little midnight snack—okay, fine, maybe more like midnight dinner—to eat while playing video games. That’s it. Just some reheated pizza to quell his hunger before going back to his room to play Mortal Kombat at full volume while no one’s here to tell him off for being up so late. 

But no, of course he can’t just enjoy a night to himself. Of course something had to go wrong.

Of course there’s a bloody _moth_ planted right above his bedroom door.

His chest is tight, his hands shaking. Suddenly, his stomach really, really doesn’t want any pizza. 

The moth is big, and dark, and just _sitting_ there and Dan can’t move. He definitely can’t walk under it. He turns on his heel and walks back into the kitchen. 

Maybe it’ll fly away, and Dan can go into his room and spend the rest of his night thinking about how there’s a moth somewhere in his house. It sounds better than having to actually deal with the thing.

\---

Five minutes later, the moth is still there. 

It hasn’t moved. Not an inch. Not even a flick of it’s wing. Dan’s given up on sitting in the kitchen waiting for it to move. He’s settled on the floor with his knees tugged to his chest, legs jittering with anxiety, staring at the fucking moth from a distance. He keeps flicking his phone on and off, and his brief attempt to distract himself with YouTube failed miserably.

For a moment, he considers calling his mum, but she and his dad and Adrian are gone to visit family out of town. He almost calls his nan. She’d probably come, or at least tell him what to do, but she’s definitely asleep by now and a moth seems like a dumb reason to wake her.

It’s all dumb. Dan feels dumb.

He opens his text messages anyway.

_Dan: u awake?_

_Phil: Yeah! What’s up?_

_Dan: come on skype plz_

Phil must open Skype before he answers the text, because the little green bubble pops up next to his name. Dan hits the button to call him just as his phone vibrates in his hand. 

He stares at the moth as the ringtone plays. It still doesn’t move.

Phil’s smiling when he answers the call. “Hey!” he says. His brows furrow, smile pinching into a frown. “You okay? You look, uh, sweaty?”

“There’s a moth in my house,” he hisses, sneaking another glance up at it. 

Still no movement.

When he looks back at his computer, Phil’s covering his mouth with his hand to stifle a laugh.

\---

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry, not funny.”

Dan rolls his eyes. “Very convincing.”

“It was just unexepected,” says Phil. “Tell me about this moth?”

“Uh.” Dan glares at it. “It’s big, looks black but that’s probably because it’s dark in here. It’s just sitting there.”

“Where?”

“Above my bedroom door.”

Phil nods. He looks like he’s actually taking this seriously now and Dan’s not sure if that makes it better or worse that he’s sitting on the stairs of his house in just his pants panicking because of a moth while Skyping his boyfriend. 

“Why can’t you just kill it?” says Phil. 

“It’s a _moth_.” 

A smile quirks at the corner of Phil’s mouth. “Right, right, how could I forget.”

God, Phil probably thinks this is so stupid. Dan should have called his nan after all. Then this just would have ended up one of those terrible stories his aunts laugh about at family events. It’s probably better than embarrassing himself in front of Phil. He’s already always embarrassed in front of his family anyway. 

Dan groans, pressing his face between his knees. “This is stupid.”

“Hey, no it’s not,” says Phil. He’s frowning again when Dan looks up. He looks actually worried. “Do you want to kill it or just get rid of it?”

He looks at the moth again. It’s still sitting there, clearly not giving a shit about all the trouble it’s causing Dan. 

Hugging his knees even tighter to his chest, he huffs. “Whatever gets rid of it faster.”

Phil nods, just once. “Okay,” he says, “so here’s what you’re gonna do.”

\---

“I hate you,” Dan announces on his second trip up the stairs. “You’re making me do exercise.”

“Hey!” says Phil. “You’re the one who wanted help getting rid of your little moth problem.”

Dan sighs. Phil’s voice is but a faint whisper now as he makes his third trek back downstairs to find another flashlight and fetch the step stool from the closet, just in case. It’s heavy over his shoulder and he’s huffing by the time he gets it all the way up the stairs and he can hear Phil’s faint laughter coming from his computer.

“I think you’re just doing this to make me look ridiculous.”

He sits back down on the top step, surrounded by all the supplies Phil had him go get. There’s a fly swatter and kitchen roll, his mum’s oven mitts and two flashlights and the stepping stool, all laid out around him in a circle. Three trips up and down the stairs and the moth’s still just sitting there. 

It probably doing it just to spite Dan now.

“I would do no such thing,” says Phil, even though he’s smiling. “I love you and would never take advantage of your moth phobia for the sake of my own amusement.”

Dan glares. “It’s not a _phobia_.”

Phil’s brows raise, and Dan realizes it probably doesn’t sound very convincing, given that he’s surrounded by supplies to get rid of the stupid thing. It’s been well over half an hour since he first came down to get food and Dan’s still sitting on the floor trying to build up the nerve to go near the stupid thing.

“Fine, whatever,” he says. “What do I do next?”

“You’re not gonna like it,” says Phil.

“Oh no.”

The corner of Phil’s mouth lifts almost sympathetically. “You’re gonna need to set up a flashlight to lure the moth somewhere else.”

Dan frowns. “Fuck.”

\---

It takes another five minutes for Dan to muster the courage to walk by the moth.

He grabs the smaller of the two flashlights and fidgets with it for a long moment. Then he sets up his laptop so Phil can see down the upstairs corridor, just in case the moth tries to attack Dan for invading it’s territory or something. Not that it’s very likely to do that, Dan supposes.

Still, it makes him feel better to know Phil’s looking out for him. 

“I just need to set up the flashlight and then come back, right?”

“Yup,” says Phil. “Google says moths like light.”

“That’s probably why the bloody thing ended up by my room,” says Dan. He looks back down the hallway. The bathroom’s just one door down and then maybe the moth will come towards the ground and he can get rid of the stupid thing. “Now?”

“When you’re ready,” says Phil. 

Dan nods. He sucks in a deep breath and lets it out slowly. He can do this. It’s just an insect. And it hasn’t even moved the entire time it’s been there. It won’t move now. Probably.

He takes another breath, and then runs past the moth like a kid, darting into the bathroom. His hands are shaking again as he sets up the flashlight so it beams through the doorway and paints a bright circle on the hallway wall. The moth might land there, he realizes, but it’s better than having it planted right above his bedroom door.

The moth doesn’t move towards the flashlight. Dan’s almost glad. That would require it moving towards him right now, too.

He still needs to walk by it again. It takes him another few moments, which he spends regulating his breathing and staring pointedly at the moth, before he musters the courage to rush back. 

Phil’s smiling when Dan drops back onto the ground in front of his laptop. 

“What?” asks Dan. “I didn’t Skype you to be your entertainment for the night, you know.”

“I know,” says Phil. “It’s just that you’re really cute.”

Oh. Well, that makes Dan’s chest go a little warm, even though his heart is still racing and his breathing coming a tad too shallow. He hugs his knees to his chest again, pressing his face between them to keep from smiling because he probably should be annoyed that Phil’s so entertained by the whole situation. 

“I’m not cute,” says Dan.“I’m a very manly man.”

Phil giggles. “Right, of course. My manly boyfriend.”

“Uh huh.” Dan peaks up to find Phil staring at him the same way he does during late, sappy nights. It’s a better distraction than any corner of YouTube could ever be. He rests his chin against his knees, letting himself smile back. “How was your day?”

Phil shrugs. “Boring,” he says. “Better now that I get to talk to you.”

Dan’s chest goes all fluttery and warm. “Sorry I’m a mess today.”

“Doesn’t matter,” says Phil, so impossibly sincere. “I still get to talk to you.”

His eyes look so blue, even through shitty Skype quality, and his smile so sweet, and for a moment Dan almost considers picking up his laptop, rushing into his room, and spending the rest of his night like this. The moth will probably disappear by morning. Except part of him knows the lingering anxiety would keep him from fully enjoying Phil’s company.

He always wants to fully enjoy every part of Phil.

“How are you feeling now?” 

Dan hums. “Better,” he says. “Is it weird that you make me feel safe even, like, when you’re not actually here.”

“Not weird,” says Phil. He sounds like he means it. “Wish I could be there to make you feel safe in person.”

Dan pouts. It’s probably pitiful but it makes Phil smile, and that’s all that really matters.

\---

“It still hasn’t moved.”

It’s been way too many minutes since Dan set the flashlight up in his bathroom. His back is starting to ache from sitting hunched over on the hard floor for so long. The anxiety is starting to come back, and not even Phil telling him about the video concept he’s been working on can make it fully go away again.

The moth is still planted, perfectly still, just above Dan’s bedroom door.

Phil frowns. “I think you’re moth is defective,” he says.

Dan’s insides seem to shudder. “I don’t know if that makes it better or worse.”

“I think it means you need to kill it there,” says Phil.

Dan swallows. “Definitely worse.”

\--- 

Per Phil’s instructions, he closes his bedroom door and sets the step stool up in front of it so that he knows for sure he can reach it. He holds the fly swatter in one hand and slips an oven mitt onto the other so he has double the weapons. The kitchen roll stays on the floor so he can clean up any mess later.

The flashlight from the bathroom lights up the hallway enough for Dan to see the faint pale eyes painted on the moth’s wings.

It almost makes him forget how to breathe.

“I don’t want to do it,” he whines.

Phil huffs a quiet laugh. Dan’s too occupied with the moth to be bothered by it. “Would you rather it stay there?”

“Fuck no.”

“The you have to kill it,” says Phil. 

Dan scowls. “That’s not helpful,” he says, and starts pacing the hallway.

\---

When he actually does gather the courage to do it, it happens fast.

Dan’s legs shake as he tries to climb the step stool. His oven gloved hand is useless to help him stay steady. Phil’s silent on the other end of the Skype call, but Dan knows he’s watching. 

It’s what makes him take the last step up the stool, raise his hand, and slap the fly swatter against the wall.

The plastic is too flimsy, though.

The moth panics. And flies right at Dan’s face.

“Fuck!” he shouts. His balance on the step stool teeters and, he vaguely hears Phil yell “Be careful!” from his laptop.

Dan’s too busy swatting in front of his face too listen. The fly swatter has fallen from his hand. The moth flies in circles around his head as he stumbles off the step stool, just about collapses against the opposite wall.

He watches, heart racing and lungs definitely not working, as the moth flutters over to the circle of light the flashlight is still painting across the hallway wall.

“Oh, so now you cooperate?” he hisses. Phil’s responding laugh sounds through the hall. “Fuck you.”

He walks over to it before the adrenaline can die down. His legs kinda feel like they’re about to collapse under him, and his hand is definitely not steady enough to wield a fly swatter, so he presses the oven glove against the wall and mentally vows to clean it tomorrow before his mum gets home.

When he pulls his hand away again, the moth is dead.

From his computer, Phil’s cheering loudly. Dan’s whole body heaves on a sigh. 

\---

Dan locks himself in his room afterwards.

He’s collected a pile of snacks that should last him until the sun has risen and all moths have preferably disappeared. He’s used the bathroom just to make sure he wouldn’t have to leave again. He’s scooped up his laptop, still lit up with Phil’s face, and set it down in the middle of his bed.

Phil laughs at him as Dan settles down against his pillow, tugging his duvet tight around his shoulders because it feels safer that way.

“What are you gonna do now?” he asks.

Dan shrugs. It’s barely visible, between the thick fabric of his blanket and the few pixels of his webcam. “Was gonna play video games.”

Phil pouts. He’s too adorable like that. It makes Dan wish he was back in Manchester so he could kiss him.

“But I’d much rather talk to you,” says Dan. “My knight in shining armor, or whatever.”

That brings Phil’s smile back. It doesn’t make Dan want to kiss him any less.

“But I couldn’t even kill the moth for you!”

“No, but you did deal with me being a total wimp for, like, way too long to be reasonable,” he says. “That’s, like, totally noble behaviour.”

He draws the duvet tighter around him, snuggling deeper into it as though that will convince him he’s wrapped in Phil’s arms instead. Now that the rush of the moth fight has died down, his heart slowed and mind gone a little hazy around the edges, it’s where he really wants to be.

Then again, it’s pretty much always where he wants to be.

“Hey, Phil?”

“Yeah?”

“When we live together one day, you’re in charge of getting rid of all the moths, okay?”

Dan’s stomach twists, like it always does when he makes statements about their future, but Phil’s response is a smile that lights up his whole face, crinkling the corners of his eyes.

“Okay.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Come say hi on tumblr @huphilpuffs! Huge thank you to TortiTabby for the beta read and title!


End file.
